Janice is on the left and Tracey is on the right.
Solo Traveler officially turns 10 this week!
Tomorrow will mark 10 years since the day that Janice hit “publish” on her very first post.
Six months later, I wrote my first post for Solo Traveler. A few years later, Simon joined us as our Business Manager.
What have we been up to in the Solo Traveler community?
In the last decade, we have collectively—Janice and I, members of the Solo Travel Society, our occasional contributors Grace, Bettine, Ellie, and Elizabeth—written over 1,500 posts. Although it’s been a collective effort, in reality, it’s been mostly Janice.
Through Full Flight Press, we edited and published books about a diverse range of travel styles, including adventure, luxury, cruise, family, creative, career break, volunteer, and food, in addition to the most popular book of the series, The Solo Traveler’s Handbook.
Janice has delivered innumerable talks about solo travel at conferences, in libraries near and far, and to travel clubs. Between us we have given more interviews to journalists than we can count, spreading the word about solo travel, safety, the dreaded single supplement, and the sheer joy of traveling alone, through newspapers, television, radio shows, podcasts, and online publications of many kinds.
Two years ago, we launched the Solo Travel Awards to both recognize travel companies that serve solo travelers well and encourage others to follow suit.
Simon has developed and nurtured relationships with travel companies around the world, encouraging them to offer great deals to our readers through our monthly Advisory and Deals page. He negotiates our contracts, keeps on top of published research about solo travel, monitors all of our statistics, and is our greatest supporter.
We have built a vibrant community on Facebook, the Solo Travel Society, which now boasts almost 250,000 travelers from across the world. It is my pleasure to moderate this group, interacting with members 365 days a year, posing questions, sharing information and encouragement. In June, we will be sending one of those travelers on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with Adventure Canada, circumnavigating Ireland as the winner of our 10th Anniversary Guess the Destination Giveaway.
Most recently, Janice created the Wits and Wonder Travel Course, which has been extremely well-received by those who have undertaken this 7-week email course. It was a real labor of love for her, and your feedback has been much appreciated.
Somewhere in all of this, we also travel solo and write about our experiences, sharing what we’ve seen, what we’ve learned, making recommendations, and admitting mistakes we’ve made, so that hopefully, you won’t make them when you travel.
All of these things that we do are in service of our mission at Solo Traveler, which is to deliver information, inspiration, and advocacy for and on behalf of those who love to travel alone.
You are the reason that we do what we do, and we couldn’t do it without your participation in the Solo Traveler community: sharing your photos, contributing solo travel destination posts, reading our articles and emails, and interacting on the Solo Travel Society page.
Thank you for 10 great years. Happy Anniversary to all of us in the Solo Traveler Community! We wish you lots more exciting solo travel!
This is my little tribute to the Solo Travel Society. Thank you for sharing your travel photos with us.